Overview
- Malayalam actor Mohanlal confirmed late Monday that he submitted a declaration to the Malayattoor Divisional Forest Office listing 10 elephant tusks and 13 ivory idols under Kerala’s one‑time amnesty scheme.
- Kerala Forest Department officials have prepared a detailed inventory and said they will carry out DNA tests to verify whether the items are elephant ivory; the recorded idols weigh about 45.76 kg in total.
- The declaration follows a Kerala High Court decision that last year struck down earlier ownership certificates because the government had not followed mandatory publication procedures, prompting the state to create the fresh amnesty route.
- Mohanlal has claimed the tusks were inherited or received as gifts and has attached notes and statements to support that account, but those provenance claims will be checked during verification and do not end the legal dispute.
- The criminal case from a 2011 Income Tax Department raid remains active, prosecutions were not withdrawn by courts in earlier years, and any conviction under the Wildlife Protection Act could carry prison terms pending the DNA results and the High Court’s ruling on the amnesty.